Although I’m really more of a college football fan than a pro football fan, one can hardly overlook the Super Bowl. The team I root for (New Orleans–don’t ask me why, I just think they need to win after Hurricane Katrina) was out fairly early, so I really don’t have a favorite between the Patriots and Giants.
You have to love the Patriots for just being that good, although the continuing SpyGate saga tarnishes an otherwise stellar record. We commented earlier on the silliness of someone with Bill Belichick’s talent resorting to underhanded strategies.
There is also something very human about rooting for the underdog. I also like the fact (and this is really roundabout) that Eli Manning is Peyton Manning’s brother, and Peyton played for Tennessee, where my daughter is a grad student….
Actually, it is sometimes more fun for me to watch a game where I really don’t have strong feelings about who I want to win. You can just sit back and enjoy the talent on the field without groaning at every busted play or interception.
We’ll be enjoying the game without some of the usual traditions. Mr. F fixed an outstanding beef stroganoff today, so that’s my splurge for the week. Jenny lets me have an afternoon snack of 4 (count them, 4) cashews, 12 low-fat Wheat Thins, and a BabyBel cheese. And I’ll be having coffee or water instead of alcohol, of course. Still, this only happens once a year, and I plan to sit back and have fun.
May the best team win!
2 Comments
aoneil · February 3, 2008 at 10:09 pm
The football team I was rooting for, the San Francisco 49ers, was out fairly early as well. So I also had an impartial attitude towards both the Patriots and the Giants. More than anything, I just wanted an exciting game of football, and that’s exactly what I got. With only a few seconds left, Eli Manning threw a spectacular pass into the end zone, leading his team to victory. The whole game, all I could think about was what goes through his head while he plays, and how he manages to handle the pressure. As a quarterback, a lot of the weight rests on you; you can make or break the game. So, psychologically you have to be good at managing stress.
On top of the game itself, one of my favorite parts about the Super Bowl was the commercials and half-time show: seeing Tom Petty sing, Free Fallin, and laughing at the Bud Light advertisements. The amount of money that goes into playing the commercials, and the Super Bowl as a whole, is enormous. People place bets on almost every aspect of the game from start to finish: who will win the coin toss, intercept the first pass, score the first touchdown. One of my friends who I was watching the Super Bowl with turned to me and said, “Darnit, I was going to bet on the Giants. I could have made so much money.” And my other friend turned to her and said jokingly, “Sure you were going to bet on them. You’re just saying that because they won.” And, that got me thinking about the hindsight bias and how it’s much easier to say that after the fact. It seems that we do that a lot with sports, where we’ll say, “Oh I saw that coming,” when really we had no idea what was going to happen. But, I guess that’s the beauty of it- you never know what the games going to throw at you. It really keeps you on your feet.
Laura Freberg · February 4, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I like your example of hindsight bias. I may be suffering some of that myself, but I thought from the opening snap that the Giants just looked like they wanted it more. They played hard on every play, and didn’t seem to take anything for granted.
I don’t know how people keep their cool under such pressure. My family members do track and field, and they’re very good at this, too. I have never been a good performer–I play the piano rather well when nobody is listening, then I make frequent mistakes when they are. The key is in Eli’s statement–that’s where you want to be, down 4 points and with the game depending on you. In my experience, that’s the difference between great athletes and so-so ones. The great ones want the challenge–want to make a difference. If you’re afraid of those situations, then perhaps a change of activities is in order….
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